Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-05-21

JESS.
always dses toward sunset. Indeed, all that
remained Of it were a few strictly local and
miniature w%hirlwinds, which would suddenly
spring up on the road itself, and twist and
twlrl fiercely round, raisinga mighty column
of dust fifty feet or more into the air, where
it hing long after the cause of it passed, and
then slowly dissolved rs its particles foated
to the earth.
Coming along the road, in the immediate
track of one of these desultory and ~inexplic-
able w%hirlwinds, was a maj on horseback.
The man looked limp and dirty, and the
horse limper and dirtier. The hot wind had
taken all the bones out of them, as the KafRrs
say, which was not very much to be wondered
at, seeing that they had been journeying
through it for the last four hours, without
off saddling. Suddenly the whirlwind, which
had been travelling along pretty smartly,
halted, and the dust, after turning round a
few times i'll the air like a dying top, slowly
began to dissolve i'll the accustomed fashion.
The man on the horse halted, too, and con-
templated it in all absent kind of way.
"It's just like a mans life" he said aloud to
his horse, coming from nobody knows where,
nobody knows why, and making a little
column Of dust Oh the worlds highway. and
then passing away and leaving the dust to
fall to the ground again, and be trodden
under foot and forgotten"
The speaker, a stout, we'll set up, rather ugly
man, apparently on the wrong side of 80, with
pleasant blue eyes and a reddish, peaked
beard, laughed a little at his own sententious
reflection, and then gave his jaded horse a
tap with the sjambock in his hand.
Come on, Blesbok, y he said, "or we shall
never get to old Croft's place tonight. BY
Jove! 1 believe that must be the turn"
and he pointed with his whip to u little rutty
track that turned from the Wakkerstroon
main road and stretched away toward a
curious, isolated hill with a large flat top, that
rose out of the rolling plain some four miles
to the right. 1.-The old Boer said the second
turn" lie went on, still talking to himself,
"but perhaps he lied. l am told that
some Of them think it a good joke to send
an Englishman a few miles wrong. Let's
see, they said the place was under the lee of a
table topped hill, about half an hours ride
from the main road, and that is q table
topped hill, so I think 1 will try it. Come on,
Blesbok," and he put the tired nag into
a sort of %"tripple," or ambling canter, much
affectedb by South African horses.
Life is a queer thing" reflected Capt.
SoAAA VIZ AID Cd lC oioNlS CuIlttItu
along. Now here am /, ut the age of
"a, about to begin the world again as
assistant to an old Transvaal farmer. 1t Is n
pretty end to all ones ambitions. and to four
teen years work in the army; but it is what
it has to come to, my boy, so you had better
make the hest Of it."
just then his cogitations were interrupted,
for on the farther side of a gentle slope there
suddenly appeared an extraordinary sight.
Over the crest OF the rise of land, now some
four Or five hundred yards away, a pony with
a lady on its back came wildly galloping,
and after it, with wings spread and out
stretched neck. Il huge cock ostrich was
speeding along, covering twelve Or fifteen
feet at every stridcof its long legs. The pony
was still twenty yards ahead of the bird, and
coming toward john rapidly, but strive as it
woui;i it could not distance the swiftest thing
on all TIE earth. Five seconds passed; the
great bird was close alongside now. All!
and John Mel turned sick and shut his eyes
as he rode, fer = saw the ostrich's thick leg
fly hight into the air and then sweep down
like a loaded bludgeon.
Thud! It had missed the lady and struck
her horse upon the spine, behind the saddle,
for the moment completely paralyzing it, so
that it Eel! all of Il heap on to the veldt. In a
moment ti:. girl on its back was up and off
toward him, and after her came the ostrich.
Cr went the great leg again, but before it
came crashing on to her shoulders she had
flung herself face downward on the grass.
In an instant the huge bird was on top of
her, kicking at her, rolling over her and
crushing the very life out of her. 1t was at
this %juncture that John Mel arrived upon the
scene. The moment the ostrich saw him he
gave up his attacks upon the lady on the
ground and began to waltz toward him with
a poli.pons sort Of step that these birds some
times ASSUME before they give battle. Now,
Capt. Mel was unaccustomed to the ways of
ostrlches, and so was his horse, which showed
a strong inclination to bolt; as, indeed, under
other circumstances, his rider would AVE
been glad to do himself. But he could not
abandon beauty in distress, so, finding it i'm
possible to control his horse, he slipped off it,
n with his sjambock, or hide whip. in his
hand, valiantly faced the enemy. For a mo-
ment or two the great bird stood still, blink
ing its lustrous eyes at him and
gently swaying its graceful neck to and
fro. Ten all of a sudden it spread out
its wings and came for him like
IL thunderbolt. He sprang to one side, and
was aware Of a rustic of rustling feathers,
Sllu VI d ' AoIOitO II q AN AS6 Stllh4llE uON U.
ward past his head. Fortunately it missed
him and the ostrich sped past like a flash.
Before he could turn, however, it was back
and had landed the full weight of one of its
awful forward kicks in the broad of his
back, and sway he went head oyer heels like
a shot rabbit. In a second he was on his legs
again, shaken, indeed, but not much the
worse and perfectly mad with fury and pain.
At him came the ostrich, and at the ostrich
went he, catching it a blow across the slim
necRsw;Ih his sjambock that staggered it for
a moment Profting by the check, he seized
the bird by the wing and held on like grim
death with both hands. Then they began tc
gyrate, slowly at first, then quicker, and yet
more quick, till at last it seemed to Capt
John Mel that time and space and the solid
earth were nothing but a revolving vision
fixed somewhere in the watches of the night
Above him, like a stationary pivot, lowered
the tall, graceful neck, beneath him spun the
kor lilo lao, o.,5 ;, fvonk "a LS- -. n~al